Catharsis
by The Rabid Toenail
Summary: (One-shot) Ryou and Bakura are both trying to cope with life (or lack thereof), and in surprisingly similar and different ways (?). This summary is sooo stupid... an attempt at a serious fic.


Catharsis  
  
AN: Hello all and konnichi wa to you peoples out there in the boonies! Erm... hm. This strange little fic was the product of a challenge sent to me by my friend and cousin, Haru and a terribly dull Literature lesson in which we somehow got involved in a four-line definition of catharsis. Blah. So yes, this is about Ryou... and maybe Bakura. It's a one-shot, so I'm sorry if you like it and want more. It is also an attempt at a serious fic, which... I'm not all that great at (the reason Haru challenged me to write one!)  
  
So, obviously, this is a YGO fic, and I am obviously not Kazuki Takahashi. Bah humbug.  
  
1st Person POV (Ryou)  
  
It was funny, I mused, how the hot water seemed to melt all my troubles away.  
  
I turned the tap on, watching as the tub filled with steamy water. Discarding my clothes, I eased myself into the scalding water, wincing as the searing heat met my skin.  
  
I sighed as I got used to the high temperature. This was what I did when I needed time to forget the bad things. I grabbed a bar of soap and lathered it on my washcloth. With every scrub of soap on my arm, a hateful word or a spiteful glance receded. In this way, by the time my skin was raw from the heat and the vicious scouring, my mind was blissfully clear.  
  
I liked that—not having to be reminded of the things my yami did and said. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't beat me up periodically—most of the time he ignored me. He only paid attention to me when I cooked him food or when he was yelling at me.  
  
A sudden flow of images filled my shocked mind. Bakura was standing in front of me, yelling about how I was a weakling and how he wished he hadn't been cursed with a stupid, pathetic hikari like me.  
  
I viciously scrubbed my shoulder, not noticing as the friction turned my skin an interesting crimson color.  
  
"Eek!" I shrieked, realizing what I'd done to my arm. I bit my lip as I felt the tears forming in my eyes. "No!" This wasn't supposed to happen! This always made me feel better; it wasn't supposed to make me... cry.  
  
"Gah!" I fell face first into the scalding water. Eyes burning, I pushed myself out of the water with a swirl of silver hair. I fell, dripping, onto the blue mat beside the tub. A bar of soap fell from its dish, bonking me on the head.  
  
"Oww..."  
  
There was pounding at the bathroom door. "You done in there yet?!"  
  
"Just a minute," I replied, carefully pulling the towel from the rack, standing up, and wrapping the cloth around my waist. I unlocked the door and stepped, dripping, into the hall. My yami stood there, staring at me.  
  
"You're pink, yadonushi," he observed. Nah duh. (Sorry, I couldn't resist...). He gave me one last strange glance before barricading himself in the bathroom.  
  
I never knew what he did in there, but he locked himself in there for hours at a time, ignoring all else. My yami was always a strange one. I sighed, padding my way to my room. Stupid anomalous yami.  
  
*~*  
  
Bakura stared at the water already resting in the tub. "Silly yadonushi," he muttered, reaching out to touch the water. "Aak!" he yelled, jerking his hand out of the blistering water. "Baka kisama!" He nursed the scalded hand, glaring at the water. His yadonushi had done that on purpose!  
  
He growled angrily, viciously ripping the plug of the tub from its drain. He watched happily as the last of the hateful water drained away. He then replaced the plug, turning the knob on the faucet to its lowest setting.  
  
He climbed into the tub full of freezing water; goosebumps immediately sprang up on his flesh. Curses spewed from his mouth, the flow only mitigating when his body had become better adjusted to the near subzero temperatures.  
  
Shaking arms reached for the shampoo bottle; his shudders were so violent that the bottle fell with a plop onto his head. He thrashed about in the glacial water, hissing. "Chikuso yadonushi... baka yadonushi..."  
  
It seemed that everything went wrong when he took cold baths. So, when everything went wrong, he could blame it on his yadonushi, and then it didn't make him feel so bad for yelling at the weakling boy. Whose fault was it when the shampoo got in his eyes? The yadonushi's. And when he took a shower and he slipped on the soap? Of course, the yadonushi had forced him to do that. Who else could it be?  
  
It was the yadonushi's house, and he controlled everything in it. Except for Bakura, of course. Bakura was better than that baka on any day of the week.  
  
Bakura paused in kneading the shampoo into his hair to think.  
  
"If I rule over the yadonushi, and the yadonushi rules over his house, then don't I...?" The shampoo leaked into his eyes.  
  
"Pfft. Stupid yadonushi, trying to blind me with his damn shampoo."  
  
AN: Err... that was rather pointless, ne? I don't even know if it qualifies for Haru's challenge... well, I suppose if there was any point at all, it was that they were both using catharsis, but in two completely different ways. Hot water for sunshine-and-daisies Ryou, and freezing water for I-care-for- no-one Bakura. It makes sense to me, at least.  
  
But I get the feeling I shouldn't bother posting it. It seems to suck... ah, well. Y'all can tell me what your opinions are on the matter... because I'm confusing myself. @.@ Go, me!  
  
2.27.04 


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